Funny, but ever since I was a little kid - probably less than 10 years old, I had been toting around the box sets of books for both the LOTR series (w/ The Hobbit) and the Chronicles of Narnia series (7 books) from C.S. Lewis. My goal was always to read through them all, but as far as I ever got as a youth was finishing the Hobbit and about a third of the way through FOTR in the Tolkien series, and through the first 3 books of the C.S. Lewis series. As an avid "completist", it always drove me nuts to look up at my bookshelf and see these two boxsets mocking me - "ha-ha, you can't finish us!!"

Well, in about my 5th year of college, I didn't have too much lined up for the summer, so I said the hell with this, I'm reading those 11 books from cover to cover, starting RIGHT NOW! Since the Narnia books are MUCH easier, lighter and shorter reading, I went with that set first. Zipped through all 7 rather quickly. My mom (who's quite religious) had given me a book long ago, discussing all the parallels between the Narnia books, and the Bible/God/etc., so I kept up with that book as well, as I went through the Narnia series. Interesting stuff, and certainly a great series of books (though it's written for a younger audience)...

Then I finally jumped back over to the Tolkien series. The Hobbit went quickly (for the 3rd time), but the LOTR trilogy took a while, as it's a bit tougher read. Finally made it through the rest of that series (with Summer to spare ), thus lifting a terrible weight off my shoulders that had resided there for at least 15 years. Though now that the LOTR flicks have come out, my books are mocking me again to re-read them now that I've seen the movies...

The first Narnia book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, has been in the movie planning stages for years now. Glad to finally see it moving forward. Should be very interesting to see how it turns out, and what type of audience and feedback it garners, especially considering this one, MUCH more than the other books in the series, STRONGLY parallels the Christian religion. I'll certainly be watching it on the big screen!

I just ordered a new book from barnes and noble...it is a complete work in one volume, in a different order than what the originals were numbered...

Cool. Make sure you read 'em all this time! I don't quite understand how they can start out with any other book other than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe though, since that's where the kids first enter Narnia...

On a side note, it was the weirdness of the editing (LWatW being #1 instead of MN is one small example) that formed a wedge between Lewis and Tolkien's friendship, at least for a time. Apparently Tolkien thought Lewis should have paid a little more attention to detail and consistancy and Lewis just cranked them out. Still I've always thought they were a fun read and great interpretations of many of the stories in the Bible. I work with kids and I'm always encouraging them to read the Narnia series (as well as LotR and Harry Potter).